[SydPhil] MQ Philosophy Work in Progress (WIP) seminar Tuesday 5th of May Bronwyn Finnigan (ANU)

[Emily Hughes]

Dear all,

You are warmly invited to the next MQ Philosophy Work in Progress (WIP)
seminar which will be given by Bronwyn Finnigan (ANU)

The details are as follows:
Date: Tuesday 5th of May
Time:   13:00-14:00
Room: 17WW 113

Title: Conventional or emergent persons? Navigating a dispute in Abhidharma
Buddhism

Abstract: This talk engages a growing debate in contemporary Buddhist
philosophy concerning how to understand the Buddha’s teaching that there is
no-self. One of the most influential approaches is Buddhist reductionism,
which explains a person entirely in terms of a reduced base of causally
connected psychophysical elements. More recently, however, some scholars
have argued that this teaching is compatible with an emergentist view,
according to which the person is not a separate entity but arises from the
complex interactions of psycho-physical processes. This emergentist
approach is often presented as an improvement on reductionism. Critics
argue that reductionist views are both circular and unable to account for
key features of personal identity. In response, reductionists maintain that
their account can explain these features, while contending that emergentist
accounts introduce unnecessary ontological commitments.

This talk situates the contemporary debate within an important historical
dispute between mainstream Abhidharma - represented by Vasubandhu - and the
Pudgalavāda school, which defended the idea that a person (pudgala) is
something over and above a mere collection of parts. I begin by outlining
the core commitments of mainstream Abhidharma and introducing two
challenges that motivate emergentist reconstructions of Pudgalavāda: the
circularity objection and the explanatory insufficiency objection. I then
examine how mainstream Abhidharma, as well as its contemporary reductionist
defenders, might respond. In so doing, I hope to clarify the limits of both
reductionist and emergentist approaches within a Buddhist framework, and
thereby show how Buddhist philosophy can continue to inform and sharpen
contemporary discussions of personal identity.

Further information about the seminar series including the zoom link and
details on future talks can be found at the seminar webpage:
https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/ePRyCgZ0N1imnjxn7hNfrT4sQ6I?domain=mqphilosophy.github.io

We look forward to seeing you there.

*Dr Emily Hughes *(she/her)

ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellow in Philosophy

School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts

Michael Kirby Building, 17 Wally's Walk

Level 2, Room 233

Macquarie University – Wallumattagal Campus, Dharug Country

NSW 2109 Australia

E: emily.hughes at mq.edu.au

W: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/_7YpCjZ1N7i3kwMkvIRhPTmWQXZ?domain=researchers.mq.edu.au



*I acknowledge that Macquarie University stands on the land of the Dharug
Nation, land that was never ceded. I pay my respects to the Dharug
people, the Wallumattagal clan, and their Elders past and present. Always
was, always will be, Aboriginal land.*